Tools

Spider Bags compilation release, Fleshwounds

When: Fri., June 14, 10 p.m. 2013
Price: $7

For a band formerly defined by its rangy impulses, Spider Bags' Singles could be considered a return to form. Gathering tracks from five 7-inch singles and one split, the new compilation stumbles among styles, capturing a faithful cover of Jay Reatard's snot-rocket punk ("Out of My Head, Into My Bed") and a twangy smear of steel guitar and honky-tonk regret ("I Wish That I Never Had Fed You"), along with propulsive psychedelic whimsy ("Dog in the Snow") and charged garage-pop hooks ("Teenage Eyes"). Aside from a re-recorded and expanded version of "Take It Easy Tonite" featuring a bratty sax blast from The Wigg Report's Ben Riseling, these are previously released tracks, mostly issued between 2009's Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueler World and last year's superlative Shake My Head. But, granted proximity to each other, the 10 selections on Singles capture a wider-reaching and more exhilarating Spider Bags—more like the reckless and captivating band that earned its sterling reputation on dive-bar stages. With Flesh Wounds. —Bryan C. Reed